It was an interesting weekend in terms of weather at Summit Point for the 3rd and 4th rounds of the southern series. Friday started out wet and very cold, which was not a good combo. Most people ran one session in order to save their 2nd and 3rd sessions for Saturday, when there was no rain forecast. I must have the record for most spins in a practice session. I spun, or went straight in some cases, 4 times in three laps, the first three laps for that matter. Everybody else had their head on straight for the most part, and there were no big offs, probably because everyone knew that it wasn't supposed to rain the rest of the weekend. So Friday was prettty much just a day for fun.
Saturday was a day that everyone found out that the track really was very slick, even in the dry. Race one started with me on pole (at least for the start) and a racy Lucas McConnell outside row one. Chris Hill showed a lot of speed this weekend with a very good qualifier in third with David Libby fourth. Brent Milner and Laura Rowe had a little trouble in qualifying. They figured things out for the race, with Brent coming from 7th to 3rd and Laura from 8th to 4th. David Libby got caught out by water that just never seemed to dry out all weekend at the exit of turn one, which collected him and Steven Mayer. I had a very intresting race, making it all the way to turn one with my lead and managing to spin it away with grace and beauty, watching the field fly by me as I rolled backward
. I managed to keep it on the road, however, and spun back around, not too far from the pack. I had a task to get back in front, but I was patient and it paid off, as on lap eight I was in second when Lucas repaid the favor by spinning in front of me in turn three. I held on to the lead the rest of the way for the win by 7 seconds
over Chris Hill who capitalized on Lucas dropping wheels and breaking his suspension on the second to last turn of the last lap.
Sunday I again pulled a brilliant move (on purpose, of course). After setting fastest time in qualifying I threw it off the track (again), moving Chris Hill to his first pole position, with Lucas McConnell on the outside of row one, Brent Milner in 3rd and David Libby 4th. So the field is set and the green flag flies with me dead last. I get a great start and have a nice run on the field, but pulling alongside I seem to lose ground on everyone, and I realize that the key to winning the race involves shifting as I bounce off the rev limiter down the front straight. I finally figured things out and was able to get into the lead on lap ten and hold it for the remainder of the race, followed by Lucas McConnell and Chris Hill. Brent Milner had another strong finish in 4th place.
It was, overall, a great, freezing weekend in West Virginia, minus a couple of big offs in the Superman memorial. Oh yeah, which reminds me... I beat Gerardo
Unfortunately under black flag conditions, so we didn't get to finish what we started. It was great race though, Gerardo and I got to have some great side-by-side racing, maybe not in some of the safest parts of the track, but we made it through. All this means is Gerardo has to do the next memorial to even the score. Hopefully I will see a lot of people at Moroso in December; it should be a great event. And if not at Moroso, I hope to see some of you in January at Road Atlanta. It's my home town, a great track, and it should be a cool weekend with a lot of competition from the western series drivers.